Update March 2010: Microsoft has begun to implement the settlement offering customers a choice of web browsers.
Update December 2009: The EC & Microsoft reached a final settlement in which Microsoft agreed for 5 years to offer a choice screen with each copy of Windows 7, Vista, or XP offering customers a choice among the most widely used Windows compatible browsers and enabling customers the option of completely turning off Microsoft’s own browser, Internet Explorer. Microsoft also agreed to publish interoperability standards to enable third-party products to work with Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products.
Update July 2009: Microsoft is currently selling versions of Windows in Europe without Internet Explorer and has proposed to the EC that it will offer consumers a choice of browsers, and notifying current users of Windows asking whether they would like to install systems other than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser. Microsoft proposes offering the same choice with installation of the new Windows 7 to be released in October 2009. This so called ballot-screen mechanism will initially be in place for five years. The EC is studying the proposal.
The EC has issued a statement of objections compelling Microsoft to respond to the charge that its bundling of Windows with Internet Explorer is anticompetitive.